July/August 2000

Field of VisionFrom the Publisher

A Return to Vaudeville

by Debra Levy

Remember the oldvaudeville gag
(and no you dont have to be old enough to remember vaudeville to remember the gag)
where the magician pulls the tablecloth off the table so quickly that everything appears
to stay on the table? Its quite a feat to be able to make such a basic change to the
composition of the tabletop while keeping the appearance of everything the same. Its
a gag Ive seen over and over again. They used to do it on I Love Lucy at
least once a season (and no you dont have to be old enough to remember I Love
Lucy, just the reruns). Its even in one of the recent videos on MTV (and yes I
am trying to prove I am not old enough to remember vaudeville by mentioning MTV). Anyway,
what always gets me is the way the audience gasps. Its almost as if they miss a
collective breath and then let out a loud huff. Of course, we always see the successful
attempts in reruns, so the audience then breaks into loud applause for the trickster who
has pulled off a seemingly impossible task.

The way businesses change can be like this too. They can make change slowly and with
lots of deliberationin a way akin to taking everything off the table one piece by
one piece, removing the cloth, then painstakingly replacing everything on the table right
where it was before. Or they may just pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes. Some
changes, especially family succession, take years and are accomplished slowly. To the
audiencethe suppliers, the customers, the employeeschange sometimes seems to
have pulled the tablecloth out from underneath. But the message is always the same:
everything is in its place on the table. Business continues as usual.

Pilkington (sans the LOF now) takes over Visteon, PPG takes control of Apogee
Enterprises Glass Depot and forms a new joint venture. Safelite files for
reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. And Viracon/Curvlite Inc.
has announced that it will no longer supply aftermarket auto glass to any company but PPG.

While Viracon/Curvlite is not a part of this joint venture, our ongoing and
future business structure will be impacted by the formation of PPG Auto Glass LLC,
wrote Robert C. Jungbluth, vice president and general manager of Viracon/Curvlite Inc., in
a memo to distributors. We will continue to produce RV/bus windshields for the OEM
market; however the majority of our current ARG manufacturing capacity will be dedicated
to PPG. As a result, we will no longer be able to supply the aftermarket with automotive
replacement glass and will be discontinuing our AutoGlass Express deliveries prior to the
end of this month, the letter continued.

Jungbluth asked that customers be assured that this decision was not made without
careful consideration. Viracon is a fine company and there is no reason to doubt this. But
this news, as with much other recent news, still comes before usthe
audiencelike a tablecloth being pulled off a table before our eyes. And because of
this, we must gasp and be assured that everything is in its place before well hear
any applause begin. -Deb